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Time Management - Time Saving Email Tips As promised, I have been prioritising my top five tasks each day and - it works! Rather than looking at a whole weeks ‘to do’ list, I find I can focus on the 5 most important tasks and be more productive. Lately I have been trying to limit the e-mails in my in-box to those immediately readable on screen, so I don’t have to scroll down. I have achieved it a few times, but it always seems to start spreading again immediately! I’m sure I’m not the only one fighting against an ever-rising e-mail tide, so time-saving email tips seemed like a good topic for this month’s newsletter, and these are my current favourites: Discipline yourself to only download and read your e-mails 2 or 3 times a day – mid-morning and mid-afternoon would be good times. Some can then be deleted straightaway, or at least put into appropriately named folders for later use. Only keep in your in-box e-mails which require action or to remind yourself you are waiting for a reply. Only keep the latest message in an ongoing exchange. Take care with subject headings – be very specific and use dates if necessary, or later you could find yourself trawling through a long list of ‘Meeting’s or ‘Update’s to find the one which contains that vital information you need right now. Draft standard responses if you receive lots of similar enquiries. Sometimes the phone is faster and less confusing, for example if you are trying to change arrangements and need to make sure everyone affected is aware. Don’t be tempted to use e-mail to avoid personal contact, particularly if there is already a difficulty – chances are that someone will misinterpret the written word without the benefit of accompanying verbal tone and body language, and you could end up having a drama to resolve. |
